Massively overwhelmed and struggling with uc migration

Hopeless85

Im in the middle of migrating from esa and hb to uc. And honestly, I'm not sure I'm going to make it thru this. I'm so incredibly stressed, overwhelmed and alone. I would greatly appreciate some help.

My hb is currently paid directly to landlord. My landlord is awful and very unapproachable. I'm so scared. And confused. If anyone could help me with the following questions ild greatly appreciate it. I'm so sorry, I know this is long.

1. council tax. I currently get a 100% discount on my council tax. What happens when I move to uc? I live in Bournemouth. Do I still get my discount? Do I need to reapply?

2)housing benefit. I currently get the full amount of lha I'm entitled to for hb and I pay a top up. My hb is currently paid directly to my landlord and I pay the top up. Has anyone here had their uc paid direct to landlord? And if so do uc tell you what period they've paid for? For example, for my hb I can go on my council portal and it will say, £800 was paid on the 5th Feb covering the period of 6th of Jan to the 5th Feb. Does uc do the same? As I need to know this as my landlord will do anything to try and scam me and I keep a rent statement that I do myself to keep on top of this. Also, will I continue to transfer my top up over myself like I do with hb, or will uc take it all and pay to him? So my rent is £1000 pcm, currently hb pay a portion (£800 odd) (the max I can't get on lha) direct to him and I pay the rest (top up) of £130. Does it work this way with uc? Or is it all taken as one payment?

3)my rent is due on the 24th, hb is paid on arrears, is uc housing element the same, also paid on arrears? And can anyone please explain the extra 2 week hb to me please? If hb pay 2 weeks over the date you apply for uc, and uc date back to the date you apply then there 2 weeks that my landlord is getting extra rent. The same with my esa, theres 2 weeks extra money right? Because they pay you from the date you applied, not the date you was last paid esa, correct? When I asked the uc helpline about this they said "consider it a little bonus for the hassle of swapping". Is this correct? Or does the uc actually start from when you get your last esa (the 2 weeks esa payment you get after applying)? Because say you apply on the 1st,and esa and hb pay you till the 14th, then uc back date till the 1st, then the period of the 1st-14th would be double paid? So hb and housing element would be paid for that period. Along with uc and esa. Correct?

4)if my landlord puts the rent up, how does this work, I'm so confused. So I know I won't be entitled to any more housing element as I'm already on max and pay a top up. But I've seen this comes out of your transitional protection? Which confuses me. Is this because they pay that directly to him?
So say I'm paid £300 uc in total, and £150 is rent, and £50 is transistonal protection. If he puts the rent up to £160 (£10), does this mean my TP Goes down to £40, but I I still get the £300 overall figure coming in? So basically the extra £10 I would pay to him if I was still on hb and paying as top up just goes directly to him? Or does it mean, ild only get paid £290 overall and still have to pay him the extra £10, so technically I'm £20 down? I'm so confused.
And if my TP goes down because my rent goes up, what happens if I'm future I move to somewhere with lower rent? Will my TP go back up, or have I just lost that amount?

Thank you so much if your still here.

Kimmy87

• You need to let your council know that you've applied for UC. They'll probably ask to see your first payment statement. Some local areas treat UC income differently to legacy benefits. Some people find they need to pay more towards their Council Tax. All local councils run a different scheme for Council Tax Reduction, so it's very hard to advise on individual cases from here.

Each UC payment statement will have the date the payment is for. That will be for the previous calender month known as the Assessment Period. Your AP dates will be the same each month. The payment date will be the same, unless it falls on a weekend or bank holiday, then it will be paid on the previous working day.

UC will pay your landlord the maximum rent entitlement via Housing Element, so you will still need to pay the top up.

Yes you are correct. If you apply on the 1st April , hb pays up until the 14th April. Then on the 8th May you'd be paid Housing Element for 1st to 30th April.

If you are already receiving the maximum Housing Element, and your rent went up, you'd need to pay the increase yourself. There would be no change to your HE or TP because you are already on the maximum amount for HE.

Transitional Protection decreases with: the annual benefit rises, an award of a new element or an increased entitlement of an element. Once TP is reduced it never goes back up again.